Poritia erycinoides

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Blue Gem
Poritia erycinoides Upperside left, underside right.From Seitz
Poritia erycinoides Upperside left, underside right.From Seitz
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Papilionoidea
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Poritia
Species: P. erycinoides
Binomial name
Poritia erycinoides
(C. Felder, 1865)

The Blue Gem (Poritia erycinoides) [1] is a small butterfly foundin India, Myanmar[2] and parts of South-East Asia[3] that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

Contents

[edit] Range

It ranges along the Himalayas from Assam in India to North Myanmar and South to Shan states and Southern Myanmar[2][4]. As per Savela, the butterfly ranges from Assam, Burma, Malaya, Langkawi, Tioman Islands, Borneo, Java and Thailand[3].

[edit] Status

Not Rare as per Evans[2]. Rare as per Wynter-Blyth[4].

[edit] Description

A small butterfly, 26 to 36 mm in wingspan. The basal half or more of the call in upper forewing is blue, with blue spots present in the apex and termen. Females - The upper forewing has a yellow discal patch above the blue area. The upper hindwing blue area is small and reduced to dical quadrate spots in 3 and 4. The females resemble those of P. hewitsoni but with yellow spots on the upper hindwing. The males of the Blue Gem are bluer than the Common Gem which is greener[4].

[edit] Taxonomy

Five subspecies of the butterfly have been described[3] :-

  • P. erycinoides erycinoides C. Felder, 1865 - Java[3].
  • P. erycinoides elsiei Evans, 1925. Assam - North Myanmar. Not Rare[2]. As per Savela, Burma, N.Thailand[3].
  • P. erycinoides phraatica Hewitson, 1878 - South Shan States - South Myanmar. Not Rare[2]. As per Savela, Thailand - Peninsular Malaya, Langkawi, Tioman Is.[3]
  • P. erycinoides trishna Fruhstorfer, 1919 - Assam, ?Nepal, ?Sikkim.[3]
  • P. ertcinoides phaluke Druce, 1895 - Borneo.[3]
subspecies phaluke Druce
subspecies phaluke Druce

[edit] Cited references

  1. ^ Card for species erycinoides in LepIndex. Accessed 04 December 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d e Evans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no H2.7, pg 208-209.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Page on Marrku Savela's site for genus Poritia (Lycaenidae).
  4. ^ a b c Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, pg 252.

[edit] References

Print

  • Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. 2nd Ed, (i to x, pp454, 9 figs, Plates I to XXXII), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
  • Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.Online

Online

  • Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. [1] (accessed 26 September 2007).
  • Savela, Marrku Website on Lepidoptera [2] (accessed 26 September 2007)

[edit] See also

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